Gunmen killed six people and wounded 13 others when they opened fire at a cockfight in Guerrero on Saturday night, state authorities said.
Presumed members of one criminal group attacked alleged members of another at a cockpit in the coastal municipality of Petatlán, according to a statement issued Sunday by the Guerrero Attorney General’s Office (FGE).
The number of fatalities and injuries were revised from an initial report of five deaths and at least 20 people wounded.
Citing initial investigations, the FGE said that presumed members of a criminal group led by a “generator of violence” identified as “El Gavilán” (The Sparrowhawk) fired at members of a crime gang led by “El Ruso de Petatlán” (The Russian of Petatlán).
It said that the two groups are involved in a turf war for control of the Costa Grande region of Guerrero. Reports suggest that the two groups are in fact factions of the same criminal organization.
El Gavilán is Edilberto Bravo Barragán, a former leader of the Knights Templar Cartel who formed a criminal group called Guardia Guerrerense, according to a report by the news outlet Infobae.
El Ruso is Oliver Sánchez Coria, identified as Bravo’s brother in law, Infobae said. He was reported as dead in May 2022, apparently as the result of a gunshot wound he received at a clandestine cockfight in Zihuatanejo. However, it was subsequently reported that he wasn’t the man who died.
Citing “unofficial versions” of events, Infobae said that the feud between El Gavilán and El Ruso is related to their desire to gain absolute control over the Guardia Guerrerense, which is reportedly an ally of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The FGE said that an investigation would continue until there is “total clarification” regarding what happened at the Petatlán cockpit and the perpetrators of the crime have been brought to justice.
It has been a violent start to the year in Guerrero, which recorded the seventh highest number of homicides among Mexico’s 32 federal entities in the first 11 months of last year.
At least five people were killed in an attack in the municipality of Heliodoro Castillo last Thursday, while three sisters were murdered in Chilapa on Saturday. Initial reports said that as many as 30 people were killed in Heliodoro Castillo, located in central Guerrero.
With reports from El País, Aristegui Noticias and Infobae
